Sparkabet: I is for Ignify
by Sparky Army
Summary: Ignify: to burn. They needed allies and supplies but it wasn't worth this.


_**The alphabet is something everyone is familiar with (at least we hope so lol) so why not sparkify it? After all everything needs to be sparked at least once lol. So 26 sparky fics are coming your way with titles from A to Z. **_

_Authors Note (Hannah554): So here's the fic for I, as usual it turned out nothing like I'd planned but oh well, hopefully you guys enjoy it anyway. _

* * *

**Ignify**

_By Hannah554_

I is for Ignify - To burn.

* * *

Negotiations were going well, the people here had been eager to work for a trade agreement and Elizabeth was doing a good job of getting what they needed without losing more than they could afford to. The Telasian Council had started out by asking for ridiculous amounts of supplies in exchange for the food they could provide but they were finally talking real numbers now. They'd been provided with a place to stay, this was the third night they were spending there and John missed his bed in Atlantis, the one that usually had Elizabeth in it. They had decided to remain professional while off world, she was Dr Weir and he was Colonel Sheppard and they had to act that way, at least for the most part.

They'd been given two empty houses, next to each other and close to the council building. Teyla and Elizabeth were staying in one, the rest of John's team in the other. Rodney had tried to claim the biggest bedroom for himself but Ronon had kicked him out and since John had already laid his claim on the second biggest Rodney had ended up with the smallest, a fact he had whined about incessantly for the last few days.

It was getting late now and the majority of the town was asleep or planning to be shortly. The street was quiet, the occasional passer by and a few animals skittering about. John had been too wired to sleep so he'd opted to take a walk to try and rid himself of some of his energy. It hadn't helped much and his brain was still very much switched on, it didn't look it was planning on shutting off anytime soon either.

He could hear voices up ahead, people shouting. He didn't take any notice of it until he got closer, something was wrong. He looked ahead of him, there was an orange glow, it was barely visible over all of the buildings but it was definitely there. He took of running, a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He got back to the houses the Lantians were occupying to find one of the on fire, the girl's house. There were a few of the town's people nearby shouting in panicked voices but none of them actually doing anything to help. John ran to the house as Ronon came out the bashed in front door carrying an unconscious Teyla in his arms.

"McKay's still in there looking for Dr Weir, she wasn't in her room," Ronon told him as he passed him. John ran into the house, he knew where Elizabeth was, the attic. She'd found boxes of very old books up there, they were written in what was apparently a very old Ancient language and she'd taken to trying to translate them in her free time. The fire was everywhere and he had no idea if he was even going to be able to get to Elizabeth and Rodney never mind get them all back out. His foot went through the wooden floor midway up the stairs and he had to struggle to get it free. He found Rodney not far from Elizabeth's room, shouting her name as he searched for her.

"Rodney," he called but went unheard. "Rodney."

The scientist turned to look at him. "Sheppard, I can't find Elizabeth."

"Attic," John shouted gesturing to the nearby door. From the look on Rodney's face he hadn't heard him but he headed to where he'd gestured anyway. They quickly climbed the stairs behind the door, the attic was on fire too and the crash behind them suggested the wooden house was starting to fall apart.

He spotted her as soon as he reached the top of the stairs; she was unconscious on the floor. John thanked whatever divine deity had kept her out of the fire that was rapidly consuming the attic and rushed over to her. He checked for a pulse, it was there, steady even if it wasn't as strong as he would have liked. A beam fell down behind them reminding them they were in a hurry. John didn't need the reminder; he picked Elizabeth up and ran back to the steps with Rodney just behind him. At the bottom of the stairs he had to sidestep a hole in the floor and Rodney moved in front of him shouting back for him to avoid another hole. They made it to the stairs to the first floor going down the first few before part of the ceiling collapsed right where Rodney was standing.

"Rodney," John shouted unable to get past the debris.

"I'm fine," he heard the scientist call back.

"Get out, I'll have to find another way," he shouted, he heard Rodney respond but couldn't be sure what he'd said. "Go," he called just to be on the safe side and then ran into the nearby bedroom. Thinking quickly he went to the window and opened it. He could see the town's people on the street below him. Rodney ran out of the house with Ronan who must have come back in looking for them. Teyla was with two of the town's people being taken care of.

"Sheppard," Ronon called spotting him up at the window. John made a quick judgement, the house was small, even on the second floor he was maybe only 12, 13ft from the ground. It wasn't a bad drop, it could be worse.

"Ronon, I'm going to have to drop Elizabeth to you," he called down and the big guy nodded quickly.

"Wait, wait," a woman nearby said. She took off the blanket she had wrapped around herself and handed it to Ronon. "You can catch her in this right, it's far safer."

John could feel the heat from the fire getting stronger. If they didn't get out of this house in the next few minutes they were going to burn to death. Below him Ronon, Rodney and a couple of other men had opened the blanket up beneath the window holding onto the corners. It was small but it would have to do. He lifted Elizabeth over the window ledge, kissing her forehead before letting her drop. He almost couldn't watch as she fell but she was caught in the blanket safely and he breathed a sigh of relief. Now he just had to get out himself, the fire was practically licking at his heels now. He climbed up onto the window ledge perching himself there as the men below took Elizabeth from the blanket and held it out again.

"You guys drop me and I'll kick your asses," he shouted before jumping. He landed in the blanket and though it strained them slightly the men didn't drop it. He was off it in a few seconds and ran over to where Elizabeth and Teyla were. They were both still unconscious, the town doctor was fussing around them but these people weren't that medically advanced.

"Ronon, Rodney, go get Carson," he ordered before picking up Elizabeth as one of the locals picked up Teyla and followed the doctor.

* * *

It had quickly become apparent that the Telasians couldn't and wouldn't investigate the fire. They were saying it had been an accident and they were very sorry it had happened. John had called for Lorne's, they weren't fire investigators but they could at least help to look into what had happened. They had started looking into it while John's team were being treated for smoke inhalation, Carson's orders. Rodney and Ronon had then gone to help and after only a few hours Lorne had apparently found something. All of the Lantians had gathered in a room at the 'Hospital' Teyla and Elizabeth were been kept in.

"We found traces of accelerant, it's a kind of alcohol," Lorne told them.

"It was all over the front of the house and part of the attic," Rodney added.

"So the fire was started on purpose," John stated keeping his anger in check.

"That fits," Carson spoke up. "I tested both Elizabeth's and Teyla's blood, it was rushed but there was something in Elizabeth's system, it was basically chloroform."

"Why would they drug Dr Weir?" Lorne questioned. "Especially when they didn't drug Teyla."

"Maybe she saw them?" Rodney suggested. "She surprised them and they knocked her out."

"That doesn't make sense," John stated, it was getting harder and harder to keep his anger in check. "Elizabeth was up in the attic, they had no reason to go that far into the house, not unless Elizabeth was the target."

There was silence for a moment, he didn't like the conclusion but it was the only one that made sense. The only questions left in his mind now was who was behind it, why they'd done it and how he was going to kill them.

"Why would they want to do this?" Rodney asked. "We were finally reaching a reasonable agreement."

"Maybe they didn't like where the agreement was going, they did start out by asking for a lot more than we're talking about now," Ronon suggested.

"How are they?" John asked Carson.

"They're alright, all things considered though they've both suffered a severe amount of smoke inhalation. Elizabeth is a little worse off; you got them out just in time. They should be awake within the next few hours," Carson explained and John allowed himself a moment of relief before getting back on track.

"Alright, Lorne, I want you to take them both back to Atlantis, whoever did this is still out there and the two of them are easy targets right now," John ordered. "Ronon, Rodney and I will stay here and try to find out what happened," he continued. If the council hadn't been involved in the fire then Elizabeth would want to come back here and continue negotiations, he would rather have this whole thing sorted out before then.

* * *

"We found traces of an accelerant in the house and drugs in Dr Weir's blood, the fire was started on purpose and we think Dr Weir was the intended target," John explained to the council who had still been trying to tell them the fire was an accident. Presented with the evidence they couldn't keep holding onto that theory, that's if they hadn't been involved anyway.

The council members looked at each other before the leader turned to John. "We are sorry, we should have told you this when you first arrived but we feared it would affect your desire to trade with us."

"Told us what?" John questioned.

"There is a faction of our people who do not like us to have contact with outsiders; they have done this before to many visitors to our world. They... fear what this contact will do to our people, our way of life and they seek to protect it though their methods are somewhat extreme," the leader explained. Were these people purposely trying to test his ability to control his anger?

"They probably believed that by killing your leader you would chose to leave and not return," another of the councillors stated.

"They may have done a good job," John replied, he wasn't sure he wanted Elizabeth or anyone else coming back here if they were going to be burned to death in their sleep. The trade deal was important, Atlantis needed allies as well as supplies but the risk to the Lantians wasn't worth it.

"We would understand if you chose not to trade with us but perhaps I can offer another solution, three of us could travel to your home and continue the negotiations there. When an agreement is reached we will return and for the time being keep our contact to a minimum, at least until this faction has been stopped once and for all," the leader suggested hopefully, in all honesty John would happily walk away from the deal but that wasn't his call to make.

"I'll have to speak with Dr Weir."

* * *

Elizabeth was still in the infirmary when he returned to Atlantis but at least she was awake now. Lorne informed him that Teyla had been released under strict orders to rest and Elizabeth was being kept over night for observations, she had been arguing with Carson about it since. He walked in to find her sitting behind a curtain on the bed sulking, she'd obviously lost the argument.

"I'd be careful, you wouldn't want our people to walk in here and find the great, mature Elizabeth Weir sulking," he said as he walked in and she looked up, glaring at him as she spotted him.

"You sulk when you're stuck in here," she reminded him and he shrugged.

"Yeah but people expect it of me," he told her and she just glared at him some more as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed. He absently tucked a loose curl behind her ear and tried to remember that their relationship was still a secret from most people.

"Did you find out what happened?" she questioned.

"Apparently there's a group of their people who don't like outsiders and don't like their people having anything to do with them. They thought that by killing you they could get us to leave," he told her and she nodded her head. "The council still want to continue with the negotiations but they're willing to travel here to talk rather than risk us gong back there," he continued looking at the thoughtful expression on her face. "You're going to continue the talks aren't you?"

"The deal's important John," she told him. "If we're here then this 'group' won't be able to get to us."

"I feel compelled to point out that there's no actual evidence to support that story," he stated knowing it would do him little good but then he wouldn't be doing his job if he didn't at least point it out.

"There's none against it either, we need these deals, Atlantis needs allies as well as supplies," she said, maybe he was spending too much time around her because he'd thought the exact same thing while he'd been talking to the Council.

"We can talk about that later," he stated and she raised an eyebrow at him as he leaned forward and kissed her. She pushed him back but he simply kissed her again.

"John, we're in the infirmary," she reminded him.

"Curtains closed."

"Someone could still walk in here," she tried to argue even as she kissed him back.

"Elizabeth, you almost died today," he said tightening his hold on her instinctively, normally he was the one barely scraping through a close call, he didn't like it this way around. "Let me have five minutes to not care."

She looked at him for a moment and the fear he'd felt earlier must have still been there because she nodded and kissed him. "I'm fine," she whispered as she hugged him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He held her tightly; she was so never going back to that planet ever again.


End file.
